Bottle calf! Some say I'm crazy...

Recently I was talking to a friend and fellow breeder. Said I had finally got him in the trailer and that he would stay in the 7’ lanes until he went to the sale. He said you got a Maverick, I said he has had several names but none as nice as Maverick. He was gentle and easy to pen. Our cattle are gentle and I made a little pen and used a 5 wire barb wire fence as one side. My surgery made us late getting the calves off the cows. He was the biggest calf. When I went to load the calves he walked to the fence and hopped over it. I loaded the rest and let him in the pasture gate. Went back and penned him. Thought I had it fixed he ate cake and hopped out and went and stood by the gate to be let in. Have a pens with 6.5’ pipe fence 3/8 of a mile away. Took the feed truck and took him and 6 cows down to those pens. Then took the cows back. He never tried anything in them or here at the house but I wasn’t going to turn him out on wheat. He weighed 860 at 9 months and been roughed during the winter. He had several names. I name some. Some maybe the breeders name, some named after their genetics and some by certain traits. We have a Bob tail that had her tail freeze off. We had a part Brangus that was flop ears. Then some we call by tag number.

@MurraysMutts - What about the 4 bottle babies all sucking at once! Quite a picture. And yes, Seven's heifer looks really good.

Jeanne - Simme Valley said:

@MurraysMutts - What about the 4 bottle babies all sucking at once! Quite a picture. And yes, Seven's heifer looks really good.

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Haha! They belong to a friend. Think she raised 4 or 5 at once last year too! On replacer no less.
She buys the cheap ones. Even had one she tubed for a week before it decided it could nurse. Does REAL well with them!

3 are heifers this year she plans on making cows of. Has 1 heifer from last year will be a cow. Has a steer from last year will be dinner this fall.

Bump for @Lacey 95

I know it's a long read. But I think you'll find lots of useful information.

My sweet gurl (Seven) calved today. Right on time. Such a wooly baby. Short kinda curly hair like Sevens daddy. Didn't get too close. It was bedded down right by the creek. I don't think it needs a diving lesson yet!
Drives me crazy the places some cows put their calves.....

MurraysMutts said:

My sweet gurl (Seven) calved today. Right on time. Such a wooly baby. Short kinda curly hair like Sevens daddy. Didn't get too close. It was bedded down right by the creek. I don't think it needs a diving lesson yet!
Drives me crazy the places some cows put their calves.....
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Wanna bet its a Rat Tail?

I have one cow every year that has a calf that looks like that with a rat tail.

@kenny thomas
Yep! Rat tailed heifer.
Got one more calf coming by this bull. Ol Bessie is holding out. She's definitely starting to spring up tho.
So far bull looks to be easy calving. Friend has 2 heifers bred to him as well. They will be along next month maybe.

This lil heifer has been off the bottle for a while now. Raised her in town where I'm not supposed to have livestock. Such a rebel!
I get a kick outta walking out back and yelling here kitty kitty kitty..... I dont think any of the neighbors care. I had her on the halter in the front yard the other day grazing the clover and Bermuda and crabgrass. She LOVES the Johnsongrass growing thru the neighbors fence. People like to break there necks gawking as they drive by. Some folks even stop n say hi.
City folks ain't ever seen a calf before I guess.
I've sprayed and fertilized the front twice this year. Been bagging it and toting it to her in the back yard. Shes about got the backyard cleaned up. Been nice not mowing it!! About time to get her to the pasture. After father's day cruise night some time I reckon. We gonna walk the strip and stir up a ruckus with the city before she goes to pasture.
Yummy!



Potty break

Shes too big to ride in the pickup now. Gonna have to trailer her. Miss Kitty we call her.

I absolutely love this! She looks really good! So where's the replacement lawn mower?

Every sale there will be younger weaker calves which sell for $500 - $800. I think about buying them and putting a couple of sacks of milk replacer in them and bring them back for $1,200. Then I think who is going to feed them twice a day. So I just pass. I have raised hundreds of bottle calves and have no desire to get back in that business.

Double R Ranch said:

I absolutely love this! She looks really good! So where's the replacement lawn mower?

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I've certainly thought about another one. Around $1000 tho. Some can be had a little cheaper. Smaller calves. 60 to 70lb newborns I've seen as low as $600.
This heat has really brought the flies on tho. And keeping up with the poop is a full time job. I've been scooping and filling old feed sacks to go out in the trash.
I think fall/winter/spring is better suited. But you know how it is.....
I get her moved to pasture, and I'll get bored.

Dave said:

Every sale there will be younger weaker calves which sell for $500 - $800. I think about buying them and putting a couple of sacks of milk replacer in them and bring them back for $1,200. Then I think who is going to feed them twice a day. So I just pass. I have raised hundreds of bottle calves and have no desire to get back in that business.

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This one has been eating Purina feed and a 14% grain sweet feed twice a day as well. It takes a lot to keep her in good shape. I agree, not many people wanna fool with it!!
For the same reasons I mentioned above.
The pasture she will go to has plenty of grass and a self feeder in it. Same place I got my weaners at. I think she will adapt well there. Actually thinking about keeping this one. I haven't managed to keep another bottle raised one since Seven. I like having Seven around. She's so easy to get along with. Let's me do anything I need. But can be a pain when sorting. Gotta work around her.

We went on a bit more of an adventure this evening. Father's day cruise night in Enid Oklahoma.
Good times. Good times.

Found a spot to graze a bit.

When was the last time a calf grazed the county court house lawn? Tonight!

So umm... Were the trips by mcdonalds and taco bell warnings...?

Part of the title of this thread is, "some say I'm crazy". Pictures of taking a calf for a walk in the city. You have now confirmed the fact that you are crazy. Or at the very least a bubble or two off level.

But it keeps me from going insane!!

Half a bubble for sure @Dave



It was a good time. I was most impressed with how well she did. I was afraid she was gonna spook or possibly even kick a little with all the people around. But she was super awesome and never gave me a bit of trouble!
HUGE hit with the kids and even some grown adult kids too.


Made it across a 5 lane intersection ok too!

More grass!

MurraysMutts said:

But it keeps me from going insane!!

Half a bubble for sure @Dave



It was a good time. I was most impressed with how well she did. I was afraid she was gonna spook or possibly even kick a little with all the people around. But she was super awesome and never gave me a bit of trouble!
HUGE hit with the kids and even some grown adult kids too.

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Made it across a 5 lane intersection ok too!
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Fun stuff! Gives people something different in their lives, and that's always a good thing.

I rode a horse around the city in high school, showing up at girls houses. City kids that had never experienced large animals. I hope it made them some memories.

I got out of school a few days before my best friends school had let out. I rode my horse into town to meet her for lunch and she talked me into riding the horse into the school. Pretty sure I couldn't get away with that today. It was a small Minnesota town in 1971, and a horse in town didn't attract much attention. Maybe I wasn't even the first horse and rider inside the school.

That whole day was memorable, because after I left the school, I rode over to another friends house and tied my horse out in the yard. I went inside for a bit and when I came back out the horse was gone. I flagged down a car and hitched a ride. (something not uncommon in those days) I rode into town occasionally, and I always followed a circuitous route using dirt roads and across fields and pastures to avoid traffic. I could see by his tracks that the horse had headed straight down the state highway in the opposite direction from where we had just come. The horse had never traveled that way, but somehow he knew the shortest way home. We followed along and turned onto the paved county road that headed to home. We caught up with the horse just short of home. I rode him home from there and my parents were never the wiser. I would have really caught hell if they had known about my whole ordeal. The young man I caught a ride with had just recently returned from Vietnam and it was well known that he had serious substance abuse problems. I was too young and stupid to even consider I might be taking a risk.

MurraysMutts said:

But it keeps me from going insane!!

Half a bubble for sure @Dave



It was a good time. I was most impressed with how well she did. I was afraid she was gonna spook or possibly even kick a little with all the people around. But she was super awesome and never gave me a bit of trouble!
HUGE hit with the kids and even some grown adult kids too.

View attachment 68948View attachment 68949
Made it across a 5 lane intersection ok too!
View attachment 68950
More grass!
View attachment 68954

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She's a chick magnet Murray. I think you need it.

Ken

MurraysMutts said:

But it keeps me from going insane!!

Half a bubble for sure @Dave



It was a good time. I was most impressed with how well she did. I was afraid she was gonna spook or possibly even kick a little with all the people around. But she was super awesome and never gave me a bit of trouble!
HUGE hit with the kids and even some grown adult kids too.


Made it across a 5 lane intersection ok too!
View attachment 68950
More grass!

Click to expand...

Pretty sure I drove through that intersection today on my way through today.